Rickover: The Struggle for Excellence [Hardcover]

Francis Duncan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2002

As the father of the nuclear powered Navy, Adm. Hyman G. Rickover was a pivotal figure in twentieth-century American history. While many books have been written about various aspects of his career, this is the first biography to have access to private papers, family and close friends. It not only deals with the admiral's controversial naval career but with phases of his personal life that made him what he was, including his youth as a Jewish immigrant who embraced America and the opportunities it offered. The author, Francis Duncan, worked with Rickover from 1969, when he was assigned to write a history of the nuclear propulsion program, until the admiral's death in 1986. Shortly before he died, Rickover turned over his files to Duncan, including letters to his first wife that give a vivid picture of the Navy from 1929 to 1945. Rickover's second wife allowed Duncan access to letters covering important events later in his career.

The author was also granted interviews with the admiral's son and sister and with individuals from the Naval Reactors, an organization headed by Rickover whose members mostly had refused to talk to other biographers. A witness to the admiral's daily activities and the programs he directed, Duncan also drew on his own considerable knowledge to present a portrait of the man that gives new insights into Rickover's genius and short-comings. The book does not go into technical detail but focuses on the admiral's fights to build and extend the nuclear fleet and the often-difficult relationships that developed in the pursuit of the goal. He shows that Rickover's efforts had a profound effect on the postwar world, that the excellence and responsibility he demanded arequalities that reach beyond the Navy, and that his influence continues to be felt today.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a very readable cruise..." -- The Journal of American History, March 2003

"This well-written biography traces Rickover's amazing 63-year career in the Navy." -- Choice, June 2002

About the Author

Francis Duncan, a resident of Bethesda, Maryland, and Navy veteran of World War II, was a government historian for more than twenty years. His earlier book on the admiral, Rickover and the Nuclear Navy,, published by the Naval Institute in 1990, focused on the admiral's approach to managing a technical program.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 408 pages
• Publisher: US Naval Institute Press (January 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557501777
• ISBN-13: 978-1557501776
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,544,650 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Overdue Account of Rickover, the Man., January 30, 2002

By 

Patrick W. O'Hara "taparaho" (Salt Point, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rickover: The Struggle for Excellence (Hardcover)

Many biographies have been written over the past 40 years about the impact that the life of Admiral H.G. Rickover has had on the United States Navy  one in which redefined the role of the Navy in the post World II era. All of these works have focused on his many accomplishments and the controversies that surrounded him, which often conflicted with the executive branch of the Federal government, naval shipbuilders, and the U.S. Navy itself. Few, if any, clearly demonstrate who Rickover was, and how his principles evolved. No doubt, the author of Rickover: The Struggle for Excellence, Francis Duncan, is the only biographer afforded enough access to the Rickover as an outsider to the Navy and its Naval Reactors program, to know him well enough to accomplish a detailed account of what shaped the man. This book, the third in a series by Duncan, tells the stories from birth till his death, remarking on events that shaped his priorities and principles, and addresses many of the unanswered questions or mysteries that readers of other biographers may have found in the story of Rickovers career. Some of the misconceptions about Rickover that Duncans work clears up are concerns such that Rickover had lied about his age or that Rickover had been for the most part unsuccessful and out of place in the Navy prior to his work with Naval Reactors. Unlike the Polmar and Allen Rickover biography, which often appears lengthy and intimidating as an all encompassing view of Rickovers life, Duncans work is very readable and pleasant. I assume that Duncan knew that the larger than life Rickover story could never be captured in single volume, and separated his works, which describes his evolution; Nuclear Navy, 1946-1962 which deals with the influence of Atomic Energy on the modern U.S. Navy, and the Rickover and the Nuclear Navy: The Discipline of Technology, describing the founding and management of Rickovers technical program.

Although the emphasis of most Rickover biographies has been his impact on the Navy, his story serves two other main purposes. First, from a management and organizational behavior perspective Rickover seems to break all the rules and still maintain a highly committed program that integrated safety, reliability and high-performance He embedded principles and expectations that continue to exist today, and are the core of the Naval Nuclear program. This is the ultimate measure of a founders success, for an organization to remain relatively static around what principles and values drive its core mission. The second of course, is Rickovers influence on the operation of civilian nuclear power plants, an accomplishment that Rickover thought he was unlikely to achieve when he was forced to withdraw from Shippingport. However, his influence and principles have filtered down through the personnel he trained through NR, and have subsequently redefined nuclear power operations in the Post-TMI era of nuclear power, and forced a paradigm shift in nuclear power operations and realigned the thinking about the discipline required to operate high-risk technologies.

My only criticism of Duncan is perhaps his fondness of Rickover, which comes through in his writing. Considering all of the negative stories of Rickover, I would expect more negatives in his depiction of Rickover as well. However, biographies are written about the life and accomplishments of great men, and gossip and scandals best left for supermarket tabloids.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Why is this guy not on the biography channel?, January 16, 2003

By 

A. A Slezak "Incredulous Reader" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rickover: The Struggle for Excellence (Hardcover)

I was quite surprised after reading this book. It is an excellent history of Rickover and US Navy Nuclear propulsion. I had always wondered why nuclear power was always so safe for the Navy but the public utilities had so much trouble with it. This is an interesting history of moving up the ranks in the Navy and how you can advance. I was surprised at all the people who seemed to hate Rickover because he wanted to have his way and never to go below his specifications. This is why Rickover was never on the biography channel was because he was contriversial. The story really makes you want to know more and more about Nuclear submarines especially the times at Oak Ridge and when they were building the Nautilus. It's hard to think of a time when all the subs before that ran on the surface most of the time. I was glad that Rickover just took over and got the job done. The only part I did not like was that they were not specific enough about the design of the subs. I do not mean engineering drawings or national secrets but at least some general layouts of the submarines and the propulsion system in a layman's terms to have a better understanding of this. Richard Rhodes did a good job of this in his book "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" explaining the first nuclear reactor that went critical in Chicago. I would like to also know more about that light water breeder reactor that ran on thorium instead of uranium at Shippingport. Why haven't we made more of those instead of depending on fossil fuels? Rickover was in on the most exciting technology of the 20th century, how exciting must that have been.

5.0 out of 5 stars A good solid biography, May 22, 2009

By 

Efrem Sepulveda "history geek" (Tempe, AZ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rickover: The Struggle for Excellence (Hardcover)

After reading Atomic America, I wanted to explore the life of Hyman Rickover in depth and this biography by Francis Duncan fits the bill perfectly. The book gives a detailed overview of life of Rickover which chronicles his birth in Russian Poland, his arrival in America and his extensive naval career that was enabled by the work of legendary Chicago Congressman Adolph Sabath. Rickover certainly did not follow Dale Carnegie's advice on how to win friends and influence people, but he took a tell-it-like-it-is approach to life that won him grudging repsect from his peers.

In reading this book, I did not agree with some of his non-military positions, but that is just a small aside to a book that was well-written and displayed Rickover as a man of stellar principles whether you agree with him or not. I am sad that I did not complete my Nuclear training in the early 1980s when there was a possibility that I could have met the man himself. Well done Mr. Duncan on a great biography!!